Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injuries Trends in the MHS

MSI negatively affect military readiness, and accounted for 36.3% of all injury-related ambulatory visits in active duty service members in 2016. The high intensity of combat preparedness has elucidated that the greatest nonfatal threat to soldiers in non-deployed settings are MSI sprains, strains, and overuse injuries of the spine, back, and upper and lower extremities. In fact, the top five MSIs ranked by their contribution to the highest days of limited duty (DLD) contributed between 14 and 22 DLD per injury—or approximately 9 million DLD annually. While multiple epidemiological studies have been commissioned over the past 20 years to characterize the burden of specific MSIs in the MHS, information is fragmented and cannot be used to decrease DLD and predict the economic burden of MSIs in the MHS.

This study will provide critical MSI surveillance by developing a standardized, service-wide epidemiological report which will be used to understand the frequency and prevalence of injuries in the military. Data will be published quarterly and distributed to key stakeholders and sponsors to identify clinical and operational gaps in care.